Dolly Parton says the "greatest compliment" is knowing she can recreate her mother's dumplings.
The ‘9 to 5’ legend has admitted she loves being compared to her mother Avie in the kitchen, and she's always glad when her sisters compliment her take on the dish.
Referring to her chicken and dumplings, the 76-year-old singer told PEOPLE: "I make them like Mama did. I have five sisters, and they all cook, but I'm the only one that everybody says my dumplings taste just like Mama's. To me, that's the greatest compliment ever."
The ‘Here You Come Again’ singer explained how "growing up poor” made baking and eating cakes a real treat.
She said: "Growing up poor, we didn't have a lot of sugar, so we didn't have cakes all the time so when Mama made special cakes, we loved being in the kitchen."
The 'Jolene' hitmaker revealed she likes it when her husband Carl Dean - who she has been married to for 55 years - keeps her company while she whips up some culinary treats.
She added: "I like it when he comes. A lot of times he'll sit and watch me, or he'll talk. He's a pretty good cook. Not a gourmet cook, but I tour so much he's always, through the years, had to fix things for himself. So he knows how to do that, but he loves my cooking."
While she loves to indulge, Dolly admitted her “country girl’s appetite” is something she has to keep an eye on - but her “weakness” is cake and potatoes.
She explained: "I'm all for indulging as I please, [but] I have to watch it, because I've got a country girl's appetite. If I've been on a low-carb diet or something for a while, the first thing I want to do when I break it is to have some cake — or potatoes. That's my weakness. Usually that's why I fall off of any diet, is for the love of some sort of a potato."
